KEY CULTURAL FIGURE IN TIJUANA DIES AT AGE 46

TIJUANA  Rafael Saavedra, a chronicler of Tijuana’s night life and a key cultural figure in the city, died Tuesday at age 46.

Saavedra has been credited with the phrase “Tijuana makes me happy,” which later became the title of a song by Nortec Collective Bostich + Fussible.

Though he wrote in Spanish, Saavedra often injected English-language expressions into his pieces. Saavedra “will be remembered as one of the most innovative writers of contemporary border literature,” according to a statement from Tijuana’s Cultural Center.

Saavedra underwent surgery Tuesday at the federal ISSSTE Hospital after a heart attack on Sept. 7, said a friend, photographer Julio Blanco. Though he remained in intensive care during that time, Saavedra was upbeat in recent days and happy to have friends visit and write to him, Blanco added.

A native of the city, Saavedra “was a person who lived the life of Tijuana,” said Blanco, who accompanied him on many of his nocturnal journeys.

Known as Rafa to his friends, Saavedra was scheduled to participate in the upcoming Festival Tijuana Interzona, a celebration of the city’s cultural life.

He was the author of numerous pieces about Tijuana and the border. His book, “Border Pop,” won Baja California’s prize for literature last year. Among his other writings was a chapter in the 2012 book “Tijuana Dreaming: Life and Art at the Global Border,” a collection of essays edited by Josh Kun and Fiamma Montezemolo.

Jaime Chaidez, a cultural critic, wrote that “what’s most important is that Rafa did not just limit to expressing himself as a writer.”

For example, Chaidez said, Saavedra was an early user of the Internet to broadcast his message, he worked as a DJ to spread word of Tijuana’s electronic music movement, and he conducted radio interviews of local cultural figures.